Personal care products are products that can be used by any person in the community. These products are meant for hygienic, personal health, or cosmetic purposes. There are different types of personal care products. These include skin and beauty products: used by both men and women. These products are creams, lotions, moisturizers, anti-aging properties, and sunscreens. Oral health products are also personal care products. They include toothpastes and other products that enhance whitening of teeth. Hair products: they include hair gels, shampoos, hair sprays, and hair lotions. These hair products are often used by women.
The choice of cosmetic or health products depends on an individual’s need and aspiration. These products are not just suitable for every person but each is recommended for a particular group of consumers. Every personal care product is specific to the need of a specific consumer. The consumer can be in categories of age, gender, location, income and aspiration.
Personal care products are commonly used by female consumers to enhance their looks (The Nielsen Company 2). Most of the consumers that buy products of good grooming and beauty enhancement are young women in the society. The women that are in the age group of early 20s spend more on treatment of hair and skincare products. This category of young women uses these products to maintain their style. This is about 58 percent of the young women. On the other hand, older women also try to maintain their young looks by using anti-aging products and body creams. Hair sprays and hair gel are used by the majority of women to enhance growth of hair.
Men consumers have not been left out in the use of these personal care products. Although the majority of men are not known to care about their looks, a few spend on grooming products (The Nielsen Company 5). A few would also take time to buy hair products. Men are also known to be keen about the whitening of their teeth. A man can buy oral care products easily compared to woman. They take time to buy products that will enhance whitening of their teeth. Men also take time to go for body massages. Therefore, men would also use body massage products. About half of the men in the society agree to the use of personal care products.
Age factor has also defined consumers of these products. Young people spend a lot of these products compared to older people. This is because they are at an age of anxiety and want to look attractive. On the other hand, older people will also want to maintain their young looks by using anti-aging products. Women who are below the age of 34 are likely to groom themselves as they aspire to attract or make a partner happy. These are women who belong to the age group of 21-24 (The Nielsen Company 3). Further studies suggest that manufactures should make products that will be fit the younger women in the society (Author 4).
The distribution of products in the market depends on the different types of consumers. In marketing of personal care products, marketers use the market segmentation to ensure effective distribution of the products. These segments are divided depending on the location, interests of consumers and age of clients. Through the application of these segments manufacturers are sure to supply products to consumers that require them. The variables that can be used to describe segment in personal care include: age, geographical region, gender, aspiration, product brand and financial status. These are the factors that affect the use of personal care products by consumers. If these aspects are followed by the marketing team, then they are able to sell.
Gender plays a part in market segmentation of personal care products. The products that men consider important may not be important to women. While women will focus on their hair and face make up, men would go for a general skin care and grooming (Colin A. Houston & Associates 2). It is historically known that women are much fond of grooming than men. In the survey done today, the number of men that take time to groom themselves is on the increase (The Nielsen Company 5). This has been noticed mostly in the men of South Africa, Greece and Portugal about 94 percent. Often male consumer will do skincare together with facial treatment. However, in terms of skin care practices, women have a higher rate of using the beauty products than men.
Age and aspiration: this directly links to the motives of the user of the products. As discussed previously, there are different set of groups: teenagers, youth, and the adults. The teenagers will use the products so as to improve their appearances. Many of the young people would use this mainly to attract someone else. Those at the youthful age use these products either to attract a partner or to make themselves pretty. The adults have their focus on enhancing their image to remain youthful. Product brands vary from one user to another. The product that will be used by a teenager will not be the same for and older person. Other products like the skin protection creams are not often used compared to the beauty products.
Income has affected the use of personal care products (The Nielsen Company 10). Both men and women seem to have the same take on the issue of spending money on beauty treatment (The Nielsen Company 3). If a person earns a good income, he or she can afford a product of choice. About half of the people that do grooming practices will be held back at the cost factor. This is because of the pricing of products they use. Hence, people with steady income are likely to be the ones that will be steady on the use of the products. If the price was not a problem, men would go for teeth whitening as opposed to women who would prefer facial and hair treatment. In addition, the product brand differs according to the skin type of a person. This is closely linked with the financial status of a person and their income. In this case, the preference of an individual is paramount.
Location of consumer also affects the distribution of the products. The consumers that live in area that are cold will not use the products for a warm or hot weather. Products like sun care can be well bought in areas that are hot. The same applies in the use of skin care products. Most often consumers will pick on products that are of preference to them in terms of their skin types. Knowing the skin type is useful in choosing beauty products.
Basing on the variables mentioned there are different marketing segments in the personal care product industry. These include demographic, psychographic, and geographic segments. Geographic segmentation is based on the trend of the consumers in a certain place to prefer a particular product. This involves observing the purchase of the product in that area. This could be closely related to the weather of a certain place. A place that is hot may requireproducts like sun care. These may be used especially by people that like sunbathing. The same product will not be found in an area that is cold. The same applies to products of special needs for instance oral products.
Demographic segmentation is one of the most used in personal care product marketing. There are several aspects involved in demographic segmentation. It involves gender, age, financial status, occupation, and social status. These factors have greatly affected the marketing of personal care products worldwide (Snow et. al 266). Especially the age factor has greatly affected the distribution of beauty and skin products in the market.
Psychographic segmentationis the distribution of the products depending on the interests and motives of a particular group of consumers. This segmentation is based on the intentions of the clients. It is mostly influenced by the aspiration of an individual or a group of people. This segmentation is highly used in personal care products. This is because; the products are only used when an individual has a certain aim. It is closely linked to the age of a person (Snow et. al 275). Young are likely to focus more on products that will enhance their appearances. Older women may prefer to focus more on the products that will make them look younger than their current age.
On conclusion, personal care products are products we often use in our daily lives. Every person no matter the age, gender or race is a consumer of these products. The usage of the products is highly dependent on an individual’s opinion. In addition, the location and type of skin of an individual also affects the product he or she will use. It is also beneficial for a consumer to know what product he or she wants. The different types of segments are useful to the marketers of the products. They help in the distribution of the products to the products to the consumer.
